GV: Surtees downplays knighthood calls

John Surtees has played down suggestions that he should receive a knighthood, in response to repeated calls from the public to have him honoured.

Surtees' 1964 Formula 1 crown made him the only man in history to have won world titles on two wheels and four.

Numerous calls have come to have him knighted, including an official online petition that was submitted to the government in a bid to have the 78-year-old Briton included in the most recent New Year Honours List.

Speaking at AUTOSPORT International, Surtees said that he was unaffected by the talk surrounding the honour and that Britain's success at the London Olympics last year would likely have pushed him down the pecking order.

"It might happen, but you never know," said Surtees when asked about the subject on the AUTOSPORT Stage with KX. "The government does tend to have rather a lot of things on its mind at the moment.

"In a year of the Olympics, which from the point of view of staging it, was such a wonderful advert for Team GB, it's very difficult I think to know."